


Mistery at Marlas

by mochajelled, Thomas_Eastwood



Category: Beauty and the Beast - All Media Types, Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Alternate Universe - Beauty and the Beast Fusion, Angst with a Happy Ending, Auguste Lives, Auguste is a little shit, Damen as Belle, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Laurent as Beast, M/M, POV Laurent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-06
Updated: 2017-04-11
Packaged: 2018-10-12 16:18:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 20,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10494729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mochajelled/pseuds/mochajelled, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thomas_Eastwood/pseuds/Thomas_Eastwood
Summary: After the Veretian king died, Laurent was blamed of killing Auguste and therefore banished from his kingdom with a terrible spell cast upon him. The Regent rules since then in his place and everyone seems to have forgotten about the young prince.Twelve years after this, Damianos rans away from Akielos after his brother and his lover plot to overthrow him. He escapes to Marlas, the only place he would be safe and founds that he is not alone in there, but ends in fact imprisoned by the Beast that used to be Laurent of Vere.Will they be able to work together to break the spell and free their countries from the usurpers?ORBeauty and the Beast AU where everything hurts but eventually will get better.





	1. The Curse

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mochajelled](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mochajelled/gifts).



> So, this is my first time writing a fanfiction and also my first time writing in English, so I apologize in advance for any mistake I made. 
> 
> Just to clarify, everything starts at the same time that in CP was the battle of Marlas, except that this war never took place. Delpha belongs both to Akielos and Vere, so is a neutral ground. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Commonly at noon the palace at Arles was bubbling with activity. In the kitchens everyone was eagerly preparing food and refreshment with the grace and perfection that was cultivated after years of cooking daily for kings. Palace attendants were running around the castle handing missives and directives. As in everything Veretian, this activity was characterised by elegance and beauty. The lords wore astounding suits made of the finest fabrics that could be found in the kingdom. Pets were decorated with jewels and light chains as if they were filigrees of gold. Arles usually was a depiction of all of the luxury and beauty of the nobility that only could be found in the vast kingdom of Vere.  
But this particular day, the castle was still as if it had been abandoned. The normal activity had seized as if suddenly everyone had collectively lost their will to move. Silence crept inside, like a presence extending its tentacles and little by little into the hearts of every person that was in the castle.  


For Laurent, in any other day, it would have been a relief, to find some peace and quiet for a change in the excessiveness that surrounded him. Auguste would mock him oftenly and ruffle his hair as if saying "You're so weird little brother, but I love you".  
The young prince thought that maybe one should be careful with what they wish, as he was roughly pushed around by a guard. His wrists were bound with rope. The guards didn't deemed it necessary to use anything stronger. After all Laurent was just a skinny thirteen year-old boy who had no military training whatsoever. He wasn't going anywhere, and for once, the prince knew no one would come to save him.  
Auguste used to tell him that one day he would need to learn how to fight, how to defend himself. But older brothers usually said those things in order to bother you, Laurent thought. He had always known that Auguste would find a way to protect him with his sword just as the little prince would protect his brother with his mind. Now none of those things mattered because Auguste was dead and he was alone.  
Against his will his mind wondered to the past. In a couple of hours all of his world had shattered into pieces, and he still couldn't make sense of it.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

His father was sick, he had been for a while. Physicians said that his body was turning against him and that nothing they could do would save him, just prolong his life a little. But the King was strong and he had battled against the betrayal of his body during more than a year, so Laurent had thought in his innocence that maybe he could defeat it by sheer force of will.  
But that morning the King had summoned both of his sons to his chambers.  
"I'm dying" he proclaimed. The King was staring deeply into his heir's eyes. Auguste held his gaze and a conversation passed between their eyes. They were very much alike, Laurent thought.  
Then the King turned his eyes onto his youngest son and also held his gaze. Laurent wasn't used to this much attention, he preferred to be an observer than an active participant of the camaraderie that existed between his brother and father. Still he held his father's stare without flinching. He knew that this moment was decisive somehow, and that he ought to be up to the challenge.  
"Laurent" the King pronounced slowly "I'm dying. I don't know how long I have left and you need to be ready." The young prince was confused, his father may want to discuss matters with his brother, he was the heir while Laurent would remain forever a prince, but his father still was looking intently at him. " You have the most important position in this kingdom after your brother" his father continued "even though you haven't realised it yet. People will always be after Auguste, trying to bribe him and manipulate him. It is your job to protect him while he reigns, you understand?"  
Laurent nodded  
"A King is the sword that defends and rules a kingdom" his father's voice cracked in weakness, but he talked as if he was transmitting the ultimate truth so Laurent leaned into him, to hear him better, " and his brother is the dagger that is hidden between the King's clothes. When everything fails and deceptions are revealed, the prince will be the protector of the kingdom, this is why you must never forget your role"  
Tears streamed down the boy's face but his voice didn't trembled when he proclaimed "I swear father that I will not fail"  
The King embraced his youngest son as he hadn't done in many years and closed his eyes. Laurent felt when life abandoned his father's body. The King was dead.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Laurent was brought back to the present by a hard tug of his wrists. The guard was leading him through the corridors in the castle to the stables. He was used to that walk, being that he spent most of his hours there. He felt safe there, at peace. Now as if destiny was mocking him, he was strolling towards that refugee to meet his fate.  
Being that he was still just a mere boy, he was being exiled instead of executed. Laurent wasn't fighting against this punishment, he was defeated, knowing that there was no point in resisting. His mind told him it was better to go quietly and avoid as much damage as he could than fight. He had never been a warrior. He wasn't brave, he was cunning and so he knew how to survive. Auguste would have fought... But his brother was not here anymore. He still couldn't forget how he had lost him, the last minutes replaying in his memory. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After his father had exhaled his last breath, both princes had broke down crying into each other's arms. They couldn't speak, just cry and hold tight to one another. They curled into the floor just at the foot of their father's bed and stayed there. Laurent didn't knew how long had he been curled there in Auguste's arms when a loud crash sounded in the hallway. Reluctantly, Auguste had disentangled himself from his little brother to go investigate. Laurent hadn't known he would never see his brother like that again, in all of the arrogant beauty that his youth provided him, covered by the golden aura that had always sorrounded him.  
Auguste gave a loud moan of pain and Laurent ran to the door but it was already too late. His brother was laying on the floor with a dagger protruding from his stomach. He was still, the young prince couldn't even see him breathing. He stood there paralysed as the guards came flooding the hall.  
The captain of the Prince's Guard crouched to see the state of the beautiful man laying in a pool of his own blood. He was taken aback when he saw the dagger.  
"No" he gasped and turned to Laurent in horror while he unsheathed his sword. "You killed him!"  
Laurent didn't processed what he said until the other guards hesitantly cut his escape route.  
"See this" he told his fellow guards "don't you all recognise this blade?" He pulled the dagger protruding from Auguste's stomach  
Laurent did. His father had given it to him in his tenth birthday and he always carried it with him. It was a beautiful titanium blade with a silver handle, with extrinsic golden designs. It was beautiful and light and dangerous, just as Laurent himself, and he loved that blade. Anyone who knew him would recognise it as his. It was too perfect, and he was too shocked to defend himself. He could only listen how the guards started shouting orders and brought him in front of his uncle, the only person who had enough authority to solve this situation.  
The trial had passed as if in a nightmare, he had argued with his uncle, saying it was impossible for him to even consider true that he had killed Auguste, but the evidence was irrefutable, o so the Council decided. He was to be exiled and he would be wiped out of the memory of his people. He had lost everything in the span of a few hours and that was how he had found himself being guided through the halls of the palace in an unbearable silence with more grief in his heart than he could manage.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When they arrived at the stables, Laurent wasn't immediately forced into a carriage as he thought he would be, instead the guard left him there alone. Just as he was starting to seek an escape route, two tall figures arrived. The first one was the elegant and well known figure of his uncle, who smirked at his young nephew with triumph on his lips. The other one was of a tall and muscular woman with dark skin and long black hair. She was dressed with light clothing that did not very much to cover her strong legs and powerful arms. She was clearly Vaskian and Laurent recognised her as Queen Halvik.  
"Let's begin this shall we?" The queen pronounced in her deep voice with no regards whatsoever to the young child in front of her. Laurent tried to run but his uncle grabbed him. Laurent felt betrayed, he wanted to believe this was just an awful nightmare.  
Halvik advanced and put her hands on the top of his head and an aura of darkness started surrounding him. The prince found he couldn't move anymore, his uncle was no longer holding him prisoner. He felt the queen's power start filling his veins and he tried screaming but no sound escaped past his lips.  
"For the darkness looming in your heart and your inability to protect your family, you will bear upon your skin the same scars that you bear in your soul" chanted the voice of the witch queen " until you can find someone to love and to love you in return."  
"Isn't that a bit cliché?" said his uncle curiously, although he was clearly repulsed by Halvik's presence.  
"You will find that being loved and loving are the rarest gifts to find." she replied amused "and he will not be exactly able to roam the earth, how will he find love?"  
Then she returned her attention to the prince under her hands.  
"You will be confined in a castle which you will never leave or may you peril, confined only in there with all of those who are loyal to you, who will share your punishment as well" Halvik made a stop. The King's brother had not negotiated with her the elimination of Laurent's followers, the thought never occurring to him and she laughed at his anger for being caught in his slip.  
"This shall be your curse, which can be broken if you find true love. But waste no time, if you reach your twenty first birthday and still haven't found someone to break the curse, then you shall remain a Beast forever" Halvik with this words let go of the young boy who fell unconscious into the ground.  
He was put in a carriage and brought to the castle in Marlas, the neutral ground between Vere and Akielos where no one would look for him, being such a dangerous land.  
When the young prince woke up he was alone.


	2. The Visitor

Laurent laid sprawled upon a couch in the library. He wasn't very concentrated with his book, but there was no much more to do in the rainy night. The volume that was open over one his legs was one of his favourites. The pages were worn of use, and the cover had many bumps on which it had received blows over the course of the years.  
It was a restless night as any other. Raining season was the one Laurent despised the most since that meant he could not go outside to train. The curse allowed him to walk in the gardens of the castle, and to use the training rounds. Sometimes he could even ride a little, just as he didn't left the castle grounds. He had dedicated the years to find the limits of his prison's cells.  
Laurent thought this night was going to continue like this, and he didn't dwelled on the situation. After seven years he was so used to being bored that it didn't really mattered. That was , of course, until a knock came on the door.  
Without waiting for an answer, the tall oaken doors opened and light came in. The figure of a candlelight was hoping towards him, with his almost caricaturesque features.   
"Now what Auguste?" Laurent asked annoyed. It wasn't common for his older brother to seek him at night, he understood that the young prince needed his time alone.  
"We have a visitor" the candle said, barely containing the excitement.  
"What?" Laurent quickly rose from his seat, everyone of his senses standing to attention. Seven years of living just with his followers turned into house objects, without seeing any other human being meant this simple fact was astounding and possibly dangerous. Maybe his uncle, now King of Vere, had decided to finally wipe out his nephew from the face of earth.   
Laurent stormed out of the room, leaving poor Auguste in the library. Quietly he started walking towards the main hall to catch a glimpse of the stranger.   
He was a man, with dark olive skin. He was in his twenties, older than Laurent by maybe five or six years. His head was covered with wild brown curls that covered all the way down to his neck and a little above his eyes. The strange man was dressed in the Akielon style, with a white chiton and a light riding armour. A sword belt hung on his hips with a powerful blade. He was the most impressive man Laurent had ever seen, so tall and broad and muscular. It was the main reason the blond prince decided he didn't liked the stranger.   
The brunette was currently conversing with a teapot, drinking from a very sassy and bitchy cup. He seemed exhausted. Laurent wanted him out of there as soon as possible and was just going to descend so he could send him in his way, but in his distracted state he hadn't noticed Auguste descending to the hall until it was too late.  
"Bienvenue étranger" saluted the candle "what is your name?"  
"Damen" answered a very masculine voice. "Who are you? Why are you like this?" He sounded confused.  
"Well, my name is Auguste and in another life I was the Crown Prince of Vere" replied the candle with a shrug. "The teapot is Paschal, he used to be the Queen's physician, and that cup is my son Nicaise"   
Auguste laughed at the absurdity of saying it outloud. It was hilarious in a way, if you overlooked the tragedy that have fallen upon him.  
"Are you trying to tell me that you are the Prince who was assassinated by his little brother who was executed by treason and somehow you are a candle and have your own palace staff of household objects?" Damen almost bursts out laughing "Man I must have hit my head pretty bad"  
"I know man, it is hard to process." Auguste's voice changed and became serious. "I was attacked by Vaskian assassins the same day my father died. They made it look as if Laurent had done it since they stabbed me with his dagger. After that, we were cursed by the Witch Queen Halvik and now we are stuck here."  
Damen pondered this for a minute before asking "And how can you break this curse?"  
"You can't" Laurent cut before Auguste could reply. He slowly descended from the stairs, keeping every movement controlled and deliberate. Everyone in the room was quiet. Not even Auguste had believed that his brother would willingly descend to meet their guest. When Laurent walked into the light, he saw himself for the first time in the reflection of other human's eyes. Damen was startled and went immediately into an attacking pose, sword unsheathed.   
"What are you Beast?" His voice didn't trembled a bit.   
"Exactly that, mon cher" Laurent's voice sounded amused, but with the cutting edge of a shard of glass. Damen saw the danger in the creature before him.   
Laurent knew what Damen was seeing. A young man with long and straight blond hair falling elegantly all the way to his waist. He saw cerulean eyes that were pure blue, like the sea in the middle of the day. But that hadn't caused his expression, because his natural chiselled beauty was tarnished with deep and long scars that ran across his skin. The prince's hands were curled into a claw-like position, with nails that seemed rotten and bitten. Along his face was a very deep scar that ran all the way from his right temple to the left side of his chin. He had bags under his eyes that made him seem ill, and little cuts all over the rest of the skin of his face that seemed to not be completely healed. What the Akielon foreigner was seeing was the Beast that Halvik and his uncle had created, thought Laurent.   
"Laurent I was just going to tell him..." started Auguste again but Laurent cut him with a movement of his hand.  
"Nothing brother dear" his endearment did nothing to soften the tone in which the ice prince was talking "he already knows too much. Now he cannot leave this castle, or else I'll kill him with my bare hands so please save me the trouble brother."  
Auguste said something but Laurent wasn't listening anymore. He turned around, gave Damen an ice glare, as if making him understand how low he was, how little he held importance for the Beast Prince. And with that he left.

The next day, Laurent was in the training grounds. He was in full body garment, only his wrists and face visibles, as was his custom. He was currently practising knife throwing. This discipline he excelled at. It was very much like him, controlled, balanced, precise. A single mistake would throw the knife out of the course to its target, so this particular practice required an extreme patience and discipline. This activity was one that made Laurent relaxed, since he could focus just on the task at hand. Every calculation, plan or conspiracy theory was focused on the knife, in the repetition of the twirl of his wrist.   
Sometimes he practised with other weapons. He was good in archery and spear throwing, but not so much with a sword, since he had no opponent to fight.  
Weapon practise had been his obsession from the moment he was dropped in the castle at Marlas. It was the best way to make sure he would never be caught of guard anymore, not like when he had been stripped of everyone he loved. He was determined to use this time to shape himself so one day he could get revenge on his traitor uncle and that witch Halvik.  
He was so entranced in his own thoughts that he barely missed the sound of a door opening. Out of cruelty he turned around as fast as he could and threw his knife just an inch above Jord's head. The soldier had been part of the Prince's Guard and was Auguste's best friend. Laurent liked him, but also he kind of envied him for the easy camaraderie and understanding he shared with his brother.   
"Your Highness, I have been instructed to tell you dinner is getting served downstairs in honour of our guest, and the Prince would like you to accompany them." Jord declared in a formal voice. It was true he had become less fun to be around since he had become a clock.  
"Auguste must be very pissed with me if he sent you with such a formal invitation" he replied instead.   
Taking that as an answer Jord left the room quietly. Laurent retrieved his knife from where it had landed in the wall, not feeling guilty at all, and got back to practise.

After a few hours of training, Laurent strolled back to his room and took a bath. His skin hurt where his scars were stretched, but he liked that pain. It was a way of revelling against the weakness of his flesh, this curse that was upon him. He had come to hate the body he inhabited, and he looked at every way he could to take back the power over it. Everything was about control and power in the end. That was why Laurent knew he needed control, over himself and others. That was the only way of avoiding anyone getting hurt.  
He walked into his bedroom and laid down in his bed with his book, not feeling particularly sleepy but he started reading. Or trying to. From the main hall came music and laughs as it hadn't been in years. He could faintly listen to his brother laughing and everyone else joking around.   
Wanting to investigate but not wanting to disturb the joyful atmosphere, Laurent approached quietly the hall and watched from the same spot he had been watching earlier.   
Damen was sitting in the long table sorrounded by a banquet. Every being in the castle was twirling around him, and the instruments were playing themselves as the musicians they once were. Auguste was currently reciting a ballad to Vannes while Damen watched.  
Vannes was Auguste's wife and Nicaise's mother. Before she had been trapped in a life of being a dust sweeper, she had been the Ambassador between Vere and Vask. Auguste and her had gotten married when they were 18 and a little less than a year later, they had conceived a beautiful son. Even though their lives had been ripped apart, the three of them had remained together and they all took care of Laurent. They were the only family he had left and the beast prince didn't feel comfortable sharing them with Damen. After all, what had he done to deserve them? Not that Laurent had done much himself.  
"So, what's your story Damen?" asked Vannes in that motherly tone of hers.  
"Well actually I don't think you would believe me" shrugged Damen. It amused Laurent, since after looking at his own situation, there was little he wouldn't believe.  
"Try us" smirked Jord from across the table.  
"Ok, fine. Just don't freak out" answered Damen   
"I am prince Damianos of Akielos"

A silence fell upon the room


	3. The Captive Princes

Laurent hadn't moved from where he was perched on the stairs. He was unable to move, just to listen attentively to the story that was coming from Damianos's lips. It was a wild story, but it made sense in a strange sense. It was not lost to Laurent the irony over how similar their stories were.  
"Tell us what are you doing here then Damianos" Auguste was saying. Now more cautious. Laurent may love his brother but he was sometimes an idiot. Later he would tell him he told him so.  
"As you may know, I am the heir to the throne of Akielos" started Damen "but I have an older brother, Kastor. Well, I thought that me being the heir was okay, that he would support me, that he understood..." Damen made a pause to regain his composure "Until she came..."

From there on, Damen embarked on the tale of Lady Jokaste. Apparently, she had arrived on court, daughter of a noble, who had asked the King the honour of presenting his daughter to the prince. It was such her beauty that King Theomedes had accepted without second thought.  
Damianos had fancied her from the same moment he had put his eyes on her. She was astoundingly beautiful. Pale golden hair that framed an angelical pale face. Her eyes were as two twin stones of lapis lazuli, lips like pink blossoms in early spring. Jokaste carried herself with the obscene confidence of the one who knows their own beauty, diisregarding lords and nobles, setting only her eyes on her catch, the prince.  
Damen had courted her like an innocent child, believing that one day the fair lady would cease her arrogance with him. Damen wanted to show her the kingdom, to put the world at her feet. But she was only interested on the crown.  
"At last, I discovered the fact that she wanted to be queen so badly that she didn't care who was the King" said Damen with a tired voice. "Without my knowledge, she had been seducing my brother Kastor who ultimately gave in to her invitation."   
Damen' eyes were sad and betrayed. No mask was disguising the emotions that ran through his face. Laurent had never seen someone like that, that you could read with barely a glance. It was intriguing, and Laurent asked himself if maybe there was something else to this guy that he wasn't seeing. No one was that good, that innocent, or that naïve.  
"I overheard one of their conversations and that was how I found out my lover was cheating on me with my brother. But it also allowed me to hear how the killing order had been released. I ran from the castle where my followers were brutally killed and my own people was chasing me with the order to assassinate me. I don't know how they pulled that one out.   
And that is how after days of traveling I found myself in Delpa, where I would be safe. Later, I ended up here and the rest you know" ended Damianos and shrugged.  
"Well Damen, you're safe here" said Jord from somewhere Laurent couldn't see. "Master Laurent is harsh, but he will allow you to stay"  
"I thought I was staying because I was a prisoner" Damen said ironically  
"Well maybe, and believe me, you don't want to get on his bad side." said Vannes "But still you need a place to stay and you are not in a cell, so cheer up dear"  
The Akielon just nodded and the dinner continued. Music filled Laurent's ears again and he took it as his cue to leave. He went back to the library, knowing now who was the man invading his life and his solitude. Figures that he would be the Akielon prince, because that was Laurent's luck.

Almost a week had passed from Damen's when Laurent encountered him again. Auguste was walking with him in the corridors, telling him a story about one or another tournament he had been on. They were getting along pretty well, having a lot in common. They talked and talked about tournaments, and swords and quests, they shared amusing stories of escaping tutors. They knew what it meant to carry the burden of a crown.   
Laurent had decided that Damen was just a mere inconvenience in his life, so he hadn't bothered a lot with him. But the Akielon was beginning to get on his nerves since he seemed to have charmed everyone in the castle with his easy manner and polite attitude.  
"And this are the training grounds," exclaimed Auguste happily "you can use it as you please."  
What Auguste had not noticed, was that the training room was already occupied. Laurent turned his head to look at the invaders. Without a word, he left the sword he was currently using and instead picked up his bow, retiring himself to the back of the room.   
"Maybe we could spar" Damen started with a friendly tone.  
"Or maybe you could disappear, but things never solve themselves that easily" replied coolly the Beast  
Auguste was just going to interrupt to scold his little brother but Damen answered first.  
"I see, you don't know how to use it."  
"Get out"  
Damen stormed out of the room, leaving the two brothers facing each other.  
"You won't break the curse like this Laurent" spitted Auguste  
"I won't break it either way" said Laurent and turned his back on his brother.  
"It's not just your life at stake Laurent" reminded the candle prince and with that he left. 

"You have this three houses, which one is holding the criminal Nicaise?" Laurent asked to his nephew, letting him have a look at his drawing over the table.  
Nicaise's eyes seemed thoughtful for a while until finally he exclaimed "The one in the middle"  
"Why?" happily asked the Beast  
"Here there are two doors, which makes it easier for escape, also there are two chariots that sorround him as escape routes."   
"You are right but you missed the most important aspect boy," said amusedly Laurent "the tree outside is the best hiding spot. While guards are searching the house and chasing the chariots, the criminal hides in the tree"  
This was a game that Laurent played oftenly with his nephew. He made him impossible situations the little kid had to get out of. That boy was very much like him, the same snake mind but far more docile and innocent. Laurent wondered who did he looked like. He had been three years old when he had appeared in the castle in the form of a teacup. He has spent all of his life like this and Laurent craved to know how Nicaise looked. That was the only reason why he had agreed with his brother to try to get to know Damianos, nothing more.  
A knock came on the door and Laurent answered to come in. Damen was standing at the threshold looking wary. Laurent gathered himself and winked at Nicaise who giggled and stayed at the table while the prince walked to the door and motioned Damen to follow him.   
Without a word they walked through the corridors side by side. Damen was almost a foot taller than Laurent, he looked massive and that made the blonde uneasy. They reached the training rooms and Laurent silently took out his favourite sword.  
"What are we doing here?" asked Damianos warningly.   
"Choose a sword, you are going to spar with me" replied Laurent  
Damen obliged and took his own sword that had been stored there in the armoury, maybe Auguste's idea.   
They took a starting position and started to circle each other. Laurent carefully analysed the brunette as he hadn't had the chance to. He saw that his steps were practised and natural, maybe because of years of arduous training. He threw his first attack, a very direct one meant to caught his opponent off guard, but Damen rejected it easily. Laurent gave two steps backwards and continued circling Damen.  
Then, the brunette got tired of waiting and attached him from upside, using his superior height to his advantage, but Laurent deflected him easily.   
They shared a few attacks and counter attacks until the fighting started to become more real. It was obvious that Damen was holding back a great deal and that Laurent was using all of his limited moves.  
It was painful to know he was so overwhelmed in swordsmanship and Laurent refused to give up. He attacked quickly but lost his balance. He fell down on the floor and suddenly Damianos was standing over him, his sword at the point of his neck.  
"Dead" he said with a smile, as if they were playing.  
"That's enough for today" replied Laurent as he pulled himself from the floor, disregarding Damen's help  
"I could train you. You are good, but is obvious that you have never fought a real opponent." offered the brunette   
"We are done" said Laurent and traded his sword with a bow. He adjusted his quiver to his back and ignored the fact that Damen was still in the room watching him.

He heard the door clicking shut and he knew he was alone again.


	4. The Library

By common agreement, the library had become Laurent's place. More so than his own bedroom. The prince spent there almost all of his time, and he was nearly never bothered, the only person who kept him constant company was Nicaise who was currently learning to read.   
The tall and intricate walls were covered in books from all types, shapes and colours. The beast prince had read a great part of them in the seven years he had been confined in the castle, but still had enough books to last him for another few decades, and that made him feel at peace. The training room was the place where he planned for the future and bettered his flaws. Outside he was a weapon, a strategic mind that could tear a man apart with just words. But in here he could explore the other side of himself. The curious child that craved to know, to discover, Laurent didn't know what would happen once the castle had nothing more for him to learn. Then he would truly become a Beast.  
But currently, there was an invader in his sanctuary and Laurent was only barely tolerating him under Auguste's threat of burning down his favourite book. Bloody bastard.  
That was how Damen had found himself half sat and half laying on a couch across from Laurent and was currently studying an Atlas with a very detailed view of the kingdoms that were sorrounding Vere. Laurent himself loved those maps, and was half interested in what the brunette was thinking about them. But every attempt that Damen made to start conversation was met with silence.  
A few weeks had passed since Damen's arrival at the castle, and the guy had everyone charmed. Even Nicaise who was very unfriendly and wary of people had warmed up to the Akielon prisoner. And Auguste utterly loved him. Seriously, that was one of the main reasons why Laurent didn't liked the guy, he had his brother charmed to death. If the elder prince wasn't so utterly in love with his wife and straight as an arrow, Laurent would be sure they were in love.  
In those weeks, Laurent had let himself be seen by Damen, but they didn't talked per se. They had sparred a few times with the sword in silence, and Damen had taken upon himself to teach Laurent what he could. The blonde had accepted this arrangement because he was aware that his technique was lacking, and above all things he wished to be better. It just hurt his pride to have to ask the brute for help. However he didn't leave that fact cloud his mind.   
The afternoons had been like this almost every day. Damen spent a lot of time walking with Auguste through the castle and they talked and joked around. But later he would climb the stairs and read along side Laurent.  
This day was raining heavily outside, just like the day Damen had arrived at the castle. Laurent was curled up in the couch trying to translate a book in Akielon. He could speak the basic language, but this book had very difficult and antique words.  
"You know, having an Akielon as your personal dictionary would help you with your translation, so bad there isn't one sitting five feet from you." Damen sassily proclaimed to the blonde.  
"So bad indeed" replied Laurent. It was the first time he had answered Damen addressing him since he came to the castle, and the Akielon prince was shocked. Laurent felt the other man's gaze observing him, as Damen oftenly did. The brunette prince spent a lot of time looking at Laurent, which made him uncomfortable, but he had yet to give a sign that he noticed this observation.   
"What does this word means?" asked Damen referring to a word in one of the maps and for once Laurent stood up, startling Damen again, who assumed the blond would not answer. He sat near him leaving a good ten inches between them, so they wouldn't be touching in any way.  
"Du lac means lake" said Laurent.  
Damen saw that the blond wasn't moving even though he was clearly uncomfortable. They proceeded in silence, and when Damen didn't know how to translate a word (or pretended he didn't, Laurent noticed), the blonde would translate. Finally the beast prince gave up.  
"Fine, you can help me with my translation" said Laurent as if it pained him.   
That's how they spent all of the evening and almost all of the night; sharing translations. When Damen tried to change the topic of the conversation, Laurent ignored him. He was already giving a lot of ground by asking for help and talking to the barbarian. Auguste must see that effort, and if not, then Laurent would kill him if he got near his books.

A week later, Auguste set them up for a ride. Literally he had to herd Laurent out of the training room using Vannes to help him and they had brought him to the stables where Damen was waiting already for him.   
Laurent saddled his horse and went into the castle grounds. He wasn't really worried about Damen just fleeing in his horse. It wasn't as if he was really being held captive. Everyone at the castle treated the Akielon prince as a guest, the door had always been held open.   
"How far can you go?" asked Damen. Laurent noticed that someone had filled him in on the details about the curse.  
"Maybe a mile from the castle, maybe a little bit more."   
"Then a race"  
"You got it, three ,two, now" Laurent broke a full gallop and Damen wasn't ready, so at the beginning he won a few precious meters.   
"Cheat" laughed Damianos as he followed him closely.  
They were running at full sprint, the distance between them closing until they were side by side. The race was evenly matched until Laurent started to feel the pull of the curse towards the castle. He was too far already and his body was rebelling against him. Still, he wanted to win, so he continued riding.   
Damen noticed his opponent's weakness and did something that took Laurent by surprise, he slowed down. Laurent thought he was going to take advantage of his situation but he just stood there waiting. Laurent spurred his horse to meet him, about to tell him what he thought about his consideration, hating to be cuddled and pitied but Damen just grinned mischievously and started to ride back to the castle.  
"Last one to arrive's a chicken" shouted the brunette.  
Laurent raced hard and found himself enjoying the ride. They arrived at the same time, even though both claimed to having won. For a few minutes they laughed together as they panted from the race.   
They returned to the stables and took care of the horses. Laurent particularly loved his horse, it had been the one that had brought him to the castle as a child, and his uncle had left him there expecting it to die. But the young prince had taken care of him. Laurent was put aside when Damen took a cube of sugar from his pocket and fed it to his horse, but more so when he extracted a second one and fed it to the blonde's horse.  
"I've always loved horses" said the barbarian prince.  
"Me too" answered the blonde in a very non-Laurent manner. "They don't freak about scars"  
Realising he had said too much, he squared his back and looked to Damen, expecting to find concern and pity as he often did when he said those kind of things in front of his own people, but Damen just smirked.  
"They kind of match your personality"   
Laurent laughed. Today he had laughed more than what he had in the last year. The isolation and guilt that inhabited his heart had made him very serious and cold. Damen was right, those scars truly matched his personality. They were symbols of the scars of his soul projected over his skin. He wished no one had told Damen that part of the curse.  
Both of them went inside the castle in a comfortable silence. Inside, they were no longer alone.  
"You haven't murdered each other" said Jord while he tinkered with his mechanisms. Damn clock, that was creepy.  
"He tried" said Laurent "but then felt guilty and then he stopped galloping"  
"It wasn't guilt, it is not funny to ride against a dead man. Kind of beats the concept of competition" explained Damen flushing in embarrassment. That guy was so expressive, Laurent thought.  
"We are going to celebrate" interrupted Vannes, dancing with her feather skirt twirling around her. Laurent was going to protest but he received a stern look from his sister-in-law and shut up. He might be a little shit sometimes, but he didn't had a death wish.

Dinner passed much as it had when Damen had first arrived, what changed was the fact that Laurent was attending instead of looking sneakily from the stairs. The blond prince didn't talked much, but he enjoyed watching the easy conversation passing between Auguste, Jord and Damen. Paschal was mostly watching, but he put a lot of his attention on young Nicaise, conversing patiently with the teacup boy.   
Vannes was giving him knowing looks, nodding for him to make conversation with Damen, but Laurent refused, he had done enough for a day


	5. The Dance

"I fell in love the first time I saw her" explained Damen. He was sitting in the library across Laurent, talking.  
A few months had already passed from the first time the Akielon prince had found himself captive in the castle at Marlas. Since then, their relationship had changed in quality. Most of the day they spent training and sparring. Damen taught Laurent how to use the sword, and in exchange the Veretian prince taught him how to throw knives and use a bow. Little by little, those days had changed from tense silence to light conversations. The blonde still preferred not to speak a lot, and when Damen pestered him too much for conversation he simply shut up completely. Sometimes for days even.  
But their evenings they spent reading, and in the latest days, talking. Laurent had discovered he liked talking with Damen. Right now, the brunette was explaining at Laurent's request, his story with Lady Jokaste.  
"She was crazily beautiful. Like a porcelain doll, her skin like marble. She has blond blond pale hair, that reaches down to her waist. But I fell in love with her eyes. They were blue, cerulean..." Like mine thought Laurent. If Damen had said "he" instead of "she", he might have been describing Laurent before he was turned into a Beast.  
"You may have liked her, she is crazily intelligent, and has an agile mind. We could converse of many topics. She understood of war and strategy better than any noble I've ever encountered. Makedon liked her, she was beautiful and dangerous he used to say. Nikandros hated her guts, and made sure she knew it. We fought a couple of times for that."  
Nikandros was the son of the kyros of Ios, and Damen's best friend since childhood. Makedon was a southern general and a close friend of King Theomedes. Damianos had grown to think of him as a distant uncle. Laurent preferred not to think of his own uncle and how having him was the worst nightmare in his life.  
"But at the end, Nikandros was right. She was cruel. I would had made her queen maybe, but that somehow wasn't enough.   
Also, Kastor, my brother was her shadow since she arrived to Ios. He followed her everywhere like a tamed puppy and talked to the winds her virtues. He killed a man in a duel just for suggesting the lady had ill intentions against their Prince. It was comical, seeing such a harsh and powerful man as my brother reduced to someone so servicing and tame. I thought it harmless, I guess I am naïve like that."  
He shut up while a single tear rolled down his eyes. Damen wasn't the least bit ashamed to be crying in front of Laurent, and the blond envied him for a second.  
"Turns out the whole time they were screwing behind my back and plotting my assassination. They hated me so bad, that they preferred me death than King"  
"She didn't hated you" said Laurent carefully. He wasn't very good comforting people, but he wanted to try to explain Damen what was so clear to him. Twin brown eyes looked at him harshly, as if he wanted the blond to shut up. Laurent ignored him.  
"You would have made her queen, but that was not what she wanted. She thought that you would be easy, a brute, not understanding at the very least something that wasn't battle. That's why she chose Kastor"  
"Don't call me a brute," said Damen offended. Laurent ignored him again. "if she didn't wanted the crown, what did she wanted then?"  
"A King that would bow down to her and would satisfy her every whim. She wanted some one easy to manipulate, someone strong of body but weak of mind. She wanted to rule, it isn't that hard to see."  
Damen sat quiet and thought hard about this fact, rolling it in his mind. Laurent had a first row seat to see all the emotions passing as clear as light over his expression. He sometimes wondered how it would feel to experience so much, so openly. To be so raw with emotion, and to experience life so intensely. Even when he had been a child, his mind had always been stronger, giving him more maturity, more understanding. He didn't envied emotional people or hated them, but they were an intrigue. Damianos of Akielos was a puzzle that Laurent could not solve because new parts were always surfacing, and nothing ever fit perfectly together. It was infuriating and fascinating at the same time.  
"Enough of me, tell me your story" asked Damen  
"You already know it" answered Laurent, wanting this conversation over now that he had sated his curiosity.  
"That's completely unfair, I just spit my guts to you, at least I get to hear from you what I already know." Damen stubbornly declared. Laurent thought that was the very reason Jokaste had betrayed him, the man may be a little of a brute, but he was also crazily smart. More than Damen himself knew.  
"I was thirteen," Laurent started speaking was if this pained him "my mother died when I was born, never knew her, but my father was always enough for me and my brother. He had cancer, that is what the physicians called it, his own body had turned against him. After more than a year of battling the illness, he died in my arms. It was less than two hours later that Vaskian murderers got my brother and blamed me from his death. I stood in trial, was stripped of my status of Prince and exiled from my country. The Witch Queen Halvik was conspiring with my uncle,they had been waiting for a few months for my father's peril and when it happened they striked. My uncle wiped out me and my brother in a single pass with little effort and made it impossible for me to return even if I somehow managed to break the curse. They brought me here and expected me to die." Laurent succinctly explained.  
"You were very, very young" Damen's eyes were burning with rage. It amused Laurent to a point, to see a man who had more hero complex than his own brother, Auguste just blamed everything in himself.  
"How could Auguste die if he is here?" asked Damen not for the first time. Auguste had explained it a bit, but he still didn't get it. "How did everyone ended up here?"  
"Halvik vanished them with me here. Her words were "you will be trapped with everyone loyal to you". My uncle would had killed everyone, I know, but the witch got ahead of him. It turns out my brother was loyal to me. He appeared here as a candle. No sign of his wound. He lives happily here, he has his wife who was also loyal to me, she is like my sister. I don't really understand Nicaise, he was just three when everything happened." Laurent explained patiently, it was the first time he had relieved the story. He could not take more questions for Damen, he was only answering because he himself had demanded the same from the brunette. But he wanted to escape so badly, so that he could think and process what was surfacing in his memory. His scars hurt, all of the pain of his soul reflected on his lascerated body.  
"Your scars are bleeding!" Damen shouted worried  
Laurent stepped aside, putting himself out of Damen's reach. He wasn't weak, and Damen had seen enough already. He turned on his heels and exited the library. The Akielon didn't followed him and Laurent thanked silently for simple graces.

\-------------------------------------

Laurent was currently avoiding everyone in the castle. It wasn't unusual of him, so the first couple of days no one bothered to find him. The third day everyone was worried.  
Auguste was searching crazily for him, illuminating the way, both physically and technically. The castle was huge and Laurent knew he could still hide for a day or more until he was found. He had hidden on the roof of the fort, escaping one of the watching towers from the outside. No one knew of this particular hiding spot, he had hidden it well the last years, and just used it when he was too overwhelmed.  
Since he had spoken with Damen, his scars had reopened and were bleeding lightly. Laurent wasn't worried of bleeding to death. He knew he couldn't die, couldn't kill himself. It was too easy of an escape and Halvik had taken even that choice away from him. He had tried multiple times.  
Talking about his past had made him realised how much it still hurt him. He should have known his uncle would try something, he had always known he had ambition for the throne. It had been naïve of him to think his uncle would never lay a hand on his nephews, least of all when they were so young.  
He would never find someone to love him and he knew that, had accepted it as a fact many years ago. He had made peace with himself and couldn't bare the hope that flickered in his brother's eyes. Auguste had always loved easy, but more important of all, he knew how to be loved. Laurent loved his family, his nephew. But knew he didn't deserve to be loved. The scars on his skin weren't just ugly because they had corromped his outer beauty, they were ugly because they reflected the truth of what laid hidden in his heart. Too much of his uncle, but too weak. Nothing mattered, the fact that his mind was so powerful, that his body was so strong and agile. His heart was weak, and fragile. Too breakable. A heart of ice was too easy to break. And his heart wasn't even complete. Too much ice in his veins, yet again, but too much hope to let himself become a stone.  
His thoughts were interrupted by a very unmanly squeak coming from behind him. He heard a tile going lose and quickly turned around to face the incoming attack. But he just find two hundred pounds of Akielon muscle dangling in the border of the roof, trying to pull himself up and failing. If Laurent hadn't been in such a miserable mood, he may have laughed at how ridiculous Damen was.  
"How did you find me?" asked the blond.  
"I'll tell you if you lift me up"  
"I'm not that curious"  
"I'll tell Auguste you're here"  
Laurent snarled but pulled Damen up. He felt an evil satisfaction when he heard the Akielon cursing after he was unceremoniously dumped in the floor, scraping his knees. The Veretian prince sat down as he had been, hugging one knee to his chest while his other leg was extended before him. He rested his deep blue eyes on the man laying across for him, silently urging him to explain himself. His expression was hard and emotionless, sealing all of his feelings shut.  
"I followed the trail of blood" answered Damen easily "I'm the only one who knows you're bleeding."  
Laurent just nodded and ignored Damen altogether. To his surprise the Akielon sat on the roof and made himself comfortable without speaking to the beast prince. They continued in silence, Laurent lost in his self-deprecating thoughts. Damen was right beside him, but Laurent didn't cared too much about it. This fact surprised him a lot, usually he couldn't think when he was not alone, feeling the tenseness in the other person, that wanted to speak. But Damen just sat beside him and waited patiently.  
"I do not wish to speak with anyone" said Laurent after almost an hour of silence.  
"I know, I covered your trail" replied the Akielon.  
Laurent was touched by that fact. This man seemed to respect his need to be alone. The blond turned his head around and observed the other man, and when he studied his expression he found no guilt in his face. Auguste had once tried to talk to him about what had happened at Arles and Laurent's scars had begun to bleed. He kept pestering him for days and apologised a lot more than was necessary. Most of what his people did for him was out of guilt and pity. He hated that fact, he was not weak or defenseless just because he was broken. But Damen didn't acted guilty, not by an impulse or sense of regret, just because he wanted to. Maybe he understood, thought Laurent, after all Prince Damianos had been betrayed by his family and the one he loved. He knew better than anyone what Laurent was going through. Auguste had been betrayed also, but his was a logical kill in a sense. Auguste didn't hated or resented their uncle, he had explained multiple times. He pitied the man. Laurent didn't pitied him or hated him, and he couldn't just detach completely from the issue as Auguste did. He loved his uncle still in a sick and hurtful way. And by the way Damen talked about his brother and his former lover, he loved them too.  
They spent a few more hours there, neither voicing their thoughts out loud. Surprisingly, it was Laurent the one to get down of the roof first, and Damen followed. They walked silently through the halls of the castle, carefully hiding from everyone looking for them. Laurent wished to keep quiet as he felt no desire to be pestered to speak any time soon.  
Carefully, the beast prince took his prisoner through the halls of the castle, guiding him to the east wing. Damen hadn't visited that part of the castle, not being very preoccupied by the fact he hadn't, although it was obvious in his face he felt curious. They arrived at a tall oaken door, full of decorations and intricate designs. In another life they would have been the King's rooms.   
Laurent opened the doors careful of not making any noise and urged Damen to get inside with his eyes. The barbarian prince followed him obediently, seeming to know somehow that this moment was important. Laurent didn't actually knew why he was doing this, it would hurt him and he was scared, but he wished for Damen to understand for a reason.  
They passed the bed and stood in front of an enormous window that opened to a balcony. At one side of the window, there was a little table. It had been carved all of the same tree, a willow. The wood was weak and grey, having been abandoned for so long, but his beauty was undeniable. The best carpenters had been appointed to create the decorations of the king's rooms and this was just one of the amazing pieces of art that were scattered in the room. What jumped to attention was the object over the relic table. It was a simple wooden box, without having carvings or decorations. Inside it, there was a red silk cushion that hold on top of it a dagger.  
This dagger was exquisite. The grip was an intricate design of white gold filigrees that ran through a pale silver surface. It had a design with little bumps of pale gold. On the crest of the dagger, a lapis lazuli stone carved in the form of an oval was grasped by strings of white gold. The blade was shiny and sharp. The handle extending softly into the flat face of the dagger. All of the piece looked as one, each part blending into each other.   
Beside the dagger laid a white rose. It was open and vibrant, as if life itself fuelled its existence. It had lost almost all of his petals, that laid beside the flower. Both objects over the box were covered with a thin glass protector. Laurent didn't removed the protection and Damen didn't tried to either. He saw the brunette looking at his own eyes, as if asking the question he did not dared to speak out loud for fear of breaking the seriousness of the moment. Laurent nodded.  
This was the dagger with which he had supposedly killed his brother, and it had appeared on the castle aside the white rose.  
Laurent opened the window and walked into the balcony, suddenly needing air. He rested his weight against the border. Damen stood at the window, waiting to see if he was welcome. Laurent hated to be seen in such a weak position but for a strange reason he wished to be seen. He didn't quite knew if it was because Damen had gone through something similar, or because he seemed not to judge him. He liked the Akielon in a strange way, but also still was disturbed by the striking difference between them. If Auguste was the sun, and Laurent was the moon, Damen was a comet, a bright shooting star and the beast prince feared to be burnt in that light.  
Laurent turned around and looked into Damen's eyes. Cerulean twin stones communicated with the pair of molten chocolate that the dark skinned man possessed, giving a hesitating permission to the man before him to come closer. Damen did and stood right beside him fitting himself into the space to his left, not quite touching, but with a comfortable distance.   
Laurent rested his hand of the balcony. His pale skin was almost the same as the marble beneath it, only marred by the scars that ran through it, and the darkness in his nails. Those hands were like those of a beggar, of an old man. Once beautiful and now destroyed by the curse.  
Tentatively, Damen rested his hand on top of Laurent's, covering the hideous limb with a warm presence. The blond allowed it, not knowing how to feel about the touch. It was the first human contact he'd had in seven years and it scared him to realise how much he craved it and how much he feared it.  
Gently, Damen took his hand, squeezing gently and pulling Laurent off the border of the balcony. Laurent thought he would just let him go and walk outside of the room, but Damen stood at the center of the balcony and put the scarred hand on top of his shoulder, not shivering or flinching in the slightest. After letting go of that hand, he took the other.  
Brown eyes met snake blue ones again, asking silently for permission. Laurent didn't understood where the broader man was going with this and he was suddenly very scared. Damen could completely over power him with his body, and no one knew where they were. The east wing was always empty and no one would hear Laurent even if he screamed. He wanted to run, panic rising in his chest, but he nodded anyways.  
Damen rubbed softly the hand that was held in his own and pulled his free hand into the small of the blonde's back. Laurent recognised only then the true intention of the brunette when he took the first step backwards, pulling him into the movement. Laurent was so caught up into his own head and his fears that he hadn't realised Damen was dancing with him. It was unexpected, and weird, but he let it happen. He knew the basics but was clearly inexperienced since he had never danced at a true ball. That life had disappeared when he was too young to have truly experienced it.   
Damen raised their intertwined hands over Laurent's head and the blonde twirled obediently. His brain for once had shut up, saving all of the information to be analysed later. This moment was a new experience and the young prince was doing his best to put all of the pain that was filling his heart and forcing himself to enjoy the dance. It was important because it was the first time that Laurent had let himself be held since his father had died.  
Laurent allowed the other man to lead him, and they twirled and danced all over the balcony with slow and explorative movements. They only touched each other where their dance positions required them to, but still that contact felt as if it was burning Laurent's veins. It wasn't necessarily a good experience, but he wanted to feel it. It was new and interesting, and it seemed right even though it made him uncomfortable. He also felt safe.  
After maybe two hours that were spent dancing, Damen hadn't let go of Laurent's hand. They had walked like that through the castle until they reached the blonde's room. Suddenly the beast prince was alert all again. If the Akielon wanted to take their dance further, he would completely combust in rage and betrayal. But Damen simply bowed his head and kissed Laurent's hand. Then he turned around without a word and made his way to his own room.   
Laurent didn't knew how he felt or what he thought. He went into his room and laid over the covers of his bed, not really feeling like changing into something more comfortable than the laced garment he was in. He felt asleep with confusion in his soul.  
But his wounds had stopped bleeding.


	6. The Happy Days

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter I make reference to The Little Prince. It is not necessary to read it in order to understand any of it, is just a guilty pleasure.  
> Thank you to all that had left kudos, they warmed my heart!

"I am going to fucking kill you Laurent!" his brother's voice woke him with a thunderous voice "When I'm finished with your sorry ass you are going to feel so bad that maybe some sense will be knocked into that stupid head of yours!"  
Laurent wasn't fully awake yet to deal with the angry candle and covered his head with the blankets ignoring completely his brother.  
"None of that!" Auguste started punching his head with his "hands" and the young prince understood that he was not getting away that easily this time, so he pushed the blankets of his head and Auguste with them who stumbled on his only foot and fell backwards. Dark blue eyes were staring at him filled with rage and annoyance.  
When Laurent was a kid, politicians and diplomats always flinched over themselves whenever the elder prince threw them that look. Laurent had catalogued the look as "the disapproving, soul wrenching, Auguste is disappointed in you" stare.  
The younger brother just stared right at him, not backing down. It infuriated the elder prince and Laurent was very content in watching him consuming in his annoyance.  
"I hate when you disappear like that and you know it. I was worried sick. You must talk to me, I know you better than anyone, and I support you but dear brother you are sometimes an idiot" ranted angrily Auguste.  
"Sometimes? I can live with that." Laurent snarked back. Curiously, today he was in a good mood, still with the weight of yesterday hanging upon him, but feeling as if something fundamental had changed.  
Laurent stood up. At a point in the night he had taken his shirt and hadn't bothered to cover himself again. He turned his back on Auguste and the elder prince suddenly gasped.  
"Is not as if you haven't seen those scars Gus" Laurent almost never used the childhood nickname with his brother, but exposing his scars always made him feel vulnerable.  
"Look at the mirror" was the only reply. Laurent complied. He knew how his back looked, covered in deep pink lines as if at some point of his life he had been flogged. He positioned himself on the mirror and turned his head to examine his back, expecting to see the same image he was used to but gasped just as Auguste had done.  
All of his scars, that were normally swollen and red, as if they had done a poor healing were suddenly clean and thin. They were still there, but they didn't hurt anymore, and they looked as old wounds, not as if they had been bleeding just yesterday. Laurent turned to look at his chest, but everywhere else the scars remained the same, as reddish worms snaking through his pale skin.  
"What happened yesterday?" Auguste asked dumbfounded.  
"I was hiding and Damen found me. I brought him to the east wing and showed him the rose." Laurent explained with a dull voice. He didn't mentioned the dance, or how Damen had brought him to his room.  
"Why?"  
"I'm not sure, I wanted him to see."  
Auguste didn't asked anything more, he just said "I'm bringing Paschal. You run and you'll be sorry little brother"  
Laurent stood in front of the mirror and just thought. His scars had healed, as if being raw open again had allowed them to finally close properly. He needed more evidence to see if he was in the right but was unwilling to go through that pain again anytime soon. Still Laurent felt the soreness on his heart and a considerate ache hammering his head.  
Paschal arrived with Nicaise in tow. He was sort of a tutor to him. The young boy was very interested in medicine and science, and excelled at every test the physician put him through. Laurent wished for his nephew to be able to explore that passion, but still felt uncomfortable letting his beloved boy seeing the hideous scars on his body.  
Paschal stood on the bed and Laurent sat facing his back to the physician. The man observed him carefully and with serious eyes.  
"Medically the explanation is that the scars were reopened and healed properly. But I may dare to speculate that the curse had something to do with it."  
"You are not wrong" Laurent replied, but didn't give further explanation. Paschal let him go and he dressed in the garments he preferred, with all of his body covered except for his face and hands.  
The beast prince descended to the kitchen, where Vannes had laid breakfast for his brother in law. It was rare for the woman to do things like that, she was almost never seen at the kitchen. Her presence was a sign of danger always. It meant she wanted to talk, so Laurent cut the drama and talked first.  
"I am not going to say I'm sorry because we both know that is not true" started Laurent and Vannes stared him down, clearly not amused.  
"Auguste was desperate. I know you want to think you are so cold and mean, but by hurting him you hurt yourself and I am not going to allow you to torture the both of you like that."  
Vannes was the only living person who could threaten Laurent and actually worry him. That woman may be young and small and beautiful, but there was a reason the heir to the throne had decided to quit the bullshit and married her. If Laurent would have been King, Vannes would be his first advisor and council member, no doubt on that.  
"I saw you and Damen on the balcony" continued the feathered presence.  
Laurent froze, thinking for a moment the danger of her knowing that. He hadn't told Auguste because he did not dared to give hope to his brother. Damen was a strange guy and Laurent liked him, but also he hated his stupid goofy personality. The Akielon was inherently a good man, and Laurent was sure nothing good came ever from trusting a good man. He couldn't allow hope to blossom in his heart, Damen would never love him, no matter how obviously he was intrigued by the beast prince.  
"I'm not going to tell him, or anyone for that matter" reassured the lady "but promise me something, that you won't ruin it on purpose."  
Laurent nodded suddenly and Vannes smiled at him, all anger going away. 

\-------------------------------------

Damen and Laurent were sparring again. Currently, Laurent had achieved to force the Akielon to give two steps of ground and was carefully planning how to exploit that advantage while he delivered blows to the brunette forcing him to defend himself. Damen was obviously the better warrior, as he had not only practised several more years but also he had participated in small battles and raids. Perhaps he was even better than Auguste, and that was saying something. But Laurent was not relying on technique or strength but on forcing Damen to make mistakes by using all of his mind power into the duel.  
"Watch your steps" corrected Damen without taking his eyes off Laurent. With a quick set of moves he disarmed the blond and took a step back.  
Cerulean eyes followed dark olive skin while the bigger man went to lay his sword on a space on the wall.  
"That's it?" asked Laurent trying to hide his disappointment.  
"I want to go over my bow technique again."  
The beast prince smiled and fetched the bows and quivers from their laying spot.  
He took the bow in his hands and drew, positioning the string against the tip of his nose and concentrating all of the strength of the draw on his back. He let the arrow lose, absorbing the vibration of the movement with his strong core.  
"Archery is about the mind" explained Laurent to a very attentive Akielon "if you control your mind, then your aim will always be true."  
Damen took the bow from Laurent's hands, brushing slightly his hand with the tip of his fingers. Laurent allowed it. They had held hands the night before, so this advance was not unwelcome. In the blonde's mind, once he had opened a door, it would not be closed again. Damen could touch his hands whenever he pleased.  
Unaware of the inner ramblings of his partner, Damen just smiled at the other guy non murderous reaction and repeated all of Laurent's motions.  
Bullseye.

\-------------------------------------

They were riding again, circling each other in their horses but this time, they had brought their swords with them. Damen had suggested that they trained on horseback, and Laurent agreed it was a good exercise.  
Right now they were playing more than truly fighting. Laurent was a better rider, and his horse responded to his every wish as if they shared a telepathic bond. Riding together for so many years had granted Laurent that easy communication with his horse, and he dreaded the time when the animal's time would end.  
Damen was still more skilled with the sword, but curiously, he felt uncomfortable fighting this way. For once, they were sort of matched, and the first couple of hours had been brutal. Laurent had accosted Damen using his advantage to force the brunette into impossible riding tricks. But the Akielon had also been using feints and finer techniques that he normally held back while training with the other prince. Multiple times the fight had seemed real, as if they were truly trying to kill each other. But at the moment, all of their muscles were sore and tired. Damen was laughing at Laurent's sweaty form, and for once the beast prince was smirking in return.  
"You two done?" Auguste had catched up with them, as they were not very far from the castle's main entrance.  
"Yup, right now I could maybe eat a whole cow and sleep three days straight" answered Damen, glowing in happiness. The Veretian heir smiled in return and nodded in empathy.  
"I know the feeling, sometimes I did just that after training when I was younger" Auguste told his friend.  
They went back into the castle and Laurent quickly went to take a bath, feeling content. He strolled down to the library and found Damen with Nicaise perched in his shoulder trying to decipher the book the foreigner was reading.  
Auguste and Vannes were on top of the table conversing without bothering to hide the fact they could only mutter a few words without kissing.  
"Get a room" Laurent saluted  
"Doing just that little brother, you're in Nicaise-sitting duty" Vannes replied and pulled the candle prince with her. Damen laughed as he saw the blonde's expression of pure horror. Laurent just shrugged and sat down beside Damen and pulled open his own book.  
"I'm bored" protested Nicaise  
"When I was bored, my brother Kastor used to tell me to start naming a list of whatever I had recently memorised." Damen recalled fondly "Sometimes, I named provinces, or countries, but once I named all of the insects I knew and father was very amused"  
"What did you do when you were bored uncle?" the boy questioned  
"I used to go pester your father to play hide and seek with me. I loved he could never find me." answered Laurent immediately, remembering how it felt to be a little boy, before all of this mess had ruined it.  
"Let's play" proposed Damen with a smile. Laurent wasn't too excited by the prospect, but Nicaise lighted up like a torch and his uncle didn't have the heart to tell no to the little boy.  
"You count" dead panned the blond and the tall man obliged, walking to a great column and covering his eyes against it.  
"One  
Two  
Three"  
Laurent and Nicaise ran, the older gesturing to the boy to follow him. The teacup fitted himself into Laurent's shoulder and silently directed him to a hiding spot below the kitchen counter. They hid in the cabinet and closed the doors.  
It was Paschal who found them. The beast prince, usually all mysterious and broody looked quite comical hiding in a kitchen counter and he laughed. Nicaise shushed him and filled the man in to their game. Paschal thought it quite funny and went to tell Jord. Jord told the musicians, who told the kitchen, who told Auguste who was with Vannes. 

That is how when Damen ended his count to a hundred, all of the castle habitants were hiding. It took him almost all of the afternoon to find each one of the object-people, but he was enjoying himself above the annoyance. He found Laurent at last, who had given up hiding with Nicaise in favour of hiding on the library.  
When Damen found him he laughed at how ridiculous this man was.  
"Hiding at plain sight" said Laurent "it always works."  
Damen had laughed and in a rush of happiness had taken Laurent's hand.  
It was a comforting touch, and for a second, Laurent forgot he looked hideous, letting himself be lost into the beauty of the Akielon's smile.

\-------------------------------------

"C'est ça comme j'ai abandonné un magnifique travail de dessin" Laurent was reading out loud in Veretian to Damen. The Akielon had asked the other prince to read to him his favourite book, and had expected a very complicated and huge old volume, but instead Laurent had taken from a corner a very small child's book. It was named "Le petit prince" and Laurent had looked wary of sharing this with the other man.  
As the story progressed, Damen was seeing more and more resemblance between the little prince and the Veretian beast prince. It was like having a window that showed the past. All of the curiosity that lurked in the blue eyes of the young man would have been greater as a kid, like Nicaise that was always trying to find some special sense to the world. The little prince felt lonely, but he could make a friendship with a human boy, a fox, a rose. By loving them, he had given them a name, an importance. Laurent loved deeply but scarcely showed it. Nicaise and Auguste sometimes didn't understood how much they were loved, thought Damen. They were Laurent's fox and rose.  
Damen grabbed Laurent's hand and the blond man intertwined their fingers. The brunette had noticed that he had unlimited access to grabbing Laurent's hand and took advantage of the fact. The unspoken rule was that Damen could hold hands with Laurent as long as no one was watching, and somehow understanding, the Akielon followed Laurent's lead.  
At the end of the story, tears rolled down his cheeks and finally he let go of Laurent's hand.  
"You're a sap" said Laurent with a soft smile, wiping the tears from his face. Damen was struck by Laurent's fingers caressing his face and suddenly the blond's expression changed and pulled away. In a second, the beast prince had forgotten that his hands were hideous, and mistook the other's reaction for a flinch. It wasn't Damen's fault, but suddenly Laurent wanted him gone. His scars on his hands started to bleed and the blonde cursed under his breath in Veretian.  
"I have to go" declared the beast prince, already walking towards the door.  
"You're a fool Laurent" Damen called to his back. The young man was frozen by the statement. He had known that there would come a point in which he would meet the other's man true cruelty. Everyone has a dark side. Laurent wasn't sure he wanted to meet Damen's having become used to his tender mannerisms.  
The Akielon walked to the frozen man and positioned himself between Laurent and the door. With a tender hand, he tilted the white chin up, forcing the blue eyes to meet his. Laurent's heart was pounding, not ready to listen to whatever the other man was going to say.  
"For being so smart, you are a fool." the barbarian spoke again with amusement "I was amazed by the gesture, not frightened by your hands."  
Laurent cowered but couldn't lower his gaze, Damen's hand still firm on his chin. Suddenly that same hand caressed his cheek, cupping it and softly fondled with his hair. Laurent found Damen's other hand, needing the contact to ground himself, feeling as if he was free-falling.  
"May I kiss you?" asked the Akielon, his voice vulnerable and soft.  
"Yes..."  
Damen carefully closed the few inches that separated them and positioned his forehead on Laurent's closing his eyes. They were sharing the same air, breathing into each other. Damen descended and planted a kiss on the blond cheek. That wasn't what the younger man was thinking, but before he could react, another kiss landed still on his cheek but inching closer to his lips. A trail of little kisses was landing one after the other, burning the pale skin, not used to the contact.  
When their lips met, it was very, very soft, a mere brush of skin over skin. Damen pulled away a little to look into Laurent's eyes, that were wide, his skin flushed. Then he descended again on his lips and this time they crashed with a little more urgency. Laurent wanted more of the contact, but wasn't sure how to proceed. After all, it was his first kiss. But Damen took the lead, taking his bottom lip into his own.  
When Laurent gasped, the Akielon used that opportunity to start planting open-mouthed kisses on the blond.  
Suddenly the world was spinning too fast, Laurent felt as if he had lost control of his body. In this state, he was defenceless against Damen, frozen in shock, wanting more and more but cowering in fear at the reactions of his own body. It was both a shame and a relief when Damen finally pulled back.  
"You are beautiful" said the older man, caressing the cheek that was still held in his huge masculine hand, dark skin making contrast against pale one.  
Laurent was going to answer when the doors of the library were brutally opened and Auguste entered looking mad. He was taken aback by the position of both men that were holding each other, and normally he would have smiled and jumped in the air with glee. Laurent knew something was very wrong when he didn't.  
"We have visitors" he declared, looking at Damen "they are from Akielos"

\-------------------------------------

At the doorsteps of the castle, Damen stood alone with his sword unsheathed. They had agreed in the run down the stairs to hide all of the cursed people of the castle, letting them stay as inanimate objects on the house. Laurent was perched on the same place he had been when Damen had arrived on the castle with his quiver on his back and bow on hand. Knowing the predicament of prince Damianos, they were expecting assassins sent to finish the life of the heir, and Laurent had decided to give his full support to keeping the man alive.  
Two riders arrived at the castle doors and even though the beast prince was not on the entrance, he had a pretty good view of the intruders. He took an arrow from his back and tensed it on the bow. He noticed that not only his hands had stopped bleeding, but also they were not trembling. If someone attacked, they were dead.  
"Damianos!" a manly voice erupted from beneath the hood of one of the riders. Damen was struck and Laurent was ready to take the killing shot until the Akielon prince smiled.  
"Nikandros!"  
The man descended from his horse and embraced the prince. Laurent loosened the draw on his bow but didn't stored the arrow away, not convinced the danger had passed.  
"What the hell are you doing here?" Nikandros asked dumbfounded  
"What are you doing here?" answered Damen  
"You need to come back Damianos, Kastor is going to be crowned King."  
"Impossible, that would mean..."  
"Your father is dead"  
Damen fell on his knees with shock and Nikandros hugged him. Both men seemed to share the same grief, and Laurent empathised with the feeling.  
"Who is the other rider?" Damen asked, pulling himself together for a moment.  
As an answer, said rider dismounted carefully. The cloak fell, revealing golden hair. Her wrists were bound with rope, but still she moved with the grace of a Queen.  
When Damen saw her, he jumped to his feet and gripped his sword tightly.  
"You traitor, why did you brought her here?" Damen roared at Nikandros  
"She is our way back into Ios, I kidnapped her"  
"You idiot! Kastor will send an army after you to take her back."  
"No, he won't. Not with the threat I have over him" Nikandros spoked as if calming a feral wolf.  
"Speak clear, damn it!"  
"I'm pregnant" Jokaste answered  
Laurent understood immediately. Kastor wouldn't send armies to get Jokaste, because Nikandros had in his hands the life of his son. The time had come for Damianos to ride back and reclaim his kingdom.  
The happy days were over.


	7. The Goodbye

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is the last chapter but it will have an epilogue.
> 
> I know this chapter is messy, but it is on purpose! Please don't hate me!

"Come inside" Damen urged both of the intruders harshly. Laurent could see from his vantage position how the man was carefully trying not to break apart. Ten minutes had transformed from sharing a kiss with Laurent, to reencountering his best friend, to receiving the notice of his father's death, to watching with his own eyes the prove that he had been betrayed. It was too much for him and Laurent knew it.  
The blond prince moved from his vantage position and walked to the lower floor without being seen. He hid beneath a big column, at the back of the intruders and just for a second, he let himself be seen by Damianos. He wanted to remind the Akielon prince he was not alone, he had the Veretians, he had Laurent.  
"How did my father...?" Damen's voice broke with the question.   
"He was hunting" Nikandros positioned his hand over Damen's shoulder in a brotherly gesture "his horse went wild and threw the King to the skies. He died from the impact."  
"Sounds too convenient" added Damen  
"It was, no one believes it to be an accident. For the first time in months, people are questioning the truth about your so called treason. That is why I came looking for you." Nikandros replied solemnly  
"I am going to retake my kingdom and make Kastor pay." Damen swore, and the beast prince could see his expression hardening, all of the fondness and sadness with which he usually spoke about his brother gone. For the first time, Laurent saw Damianos in his full raging glory and understood why entire armies cowered at his name. It was superb to watch.  
"Tomorrow we ride to Akielos, but tonight we rest here." The prince commanded and Nikandros nodded.  
"You are not alone in here" Jokaste commented mildly, speaking for the first time in the whole conversation.  
"I am not" replied the prince coldly  
"Who else is here?" asked Nikandros, just noticing the fact of how well kept the so called abandoned castle was.  
"No one you need to worry about"

\-------------------------------------

Laurent was waiting in the library, pacing restlessly when Damen arrived. The blond man didn't said anything, just walked towards the Akielon and took him by the hand. Damen looked tired, all of his muscles were clenched in tension. The blond was not very good at dealing with emotional situations, but he had an idea on how he could make the brunette relax.  
They walked quietly towards the east wing. In their way they passed Nikandros' closed door that was being guarded by Auguste. No one had revealed the guests the truth about the castle, but the Veretians had taken upon themselves to guard the Akielons. Vannes was stationed with Jord in front of Jokaste's closed door. The woman was also being guarded by Nicaise, who was hidden inside of the bedroom, so anything Jokaste planned, the boy would alert the adults. They had all of the advantage on their side.  
The two princes walked towards the King's room, more like they had done a couple of weeks ago. Once again, they stood before the carved wooden table that held the dagger and the rose, but this time Laurent took reverently the glass cover. He also let go of Damen's hand.  
"The rose, it hasn't died" commented Damen, not knowing well what to say.  
"This rose hasn't died in the seven years I have been cursed." answered Laurent "It is a countdown, when the last petal falls, the curse will be unreversible."  
"You never told me how the curse can be broken"  
Laurent ignored him, being painfully aware that with what he was about to do, he was consuming himself to a life of captivity. But it was okay, he hadn't made Damen love him, that had never been his purpose. But somehow, while seeing the Akielon meeting his fate, he had understood something: Laurent loved Damianos. That was enough.  
"This dagger however, is different." Laurent explained taking the fine steel into his hands for the fist time in years "This is not only the finest you'll find in Vere or Akielos, it is also a promise."  
"My father said to me once that a King is the sword that protects a kingdom, and his brother is dagger hidden between the King's robes, ready to protect him when everything else fails. I cannot accompany you in this journey, but I am hopeful that you will be victorious on it. I am very sorry your brother was a traitor... He will not be your dagger, but when you need it the most, you'll have this one to protect you."  
Damen was dumbfounded by the honesty of Laurent's gift. Tears streamed down his face and he was sobbing. Laurent guided him to the bed and embraced him. Damen rested his face on the blonde's shoulder and cried and sobbed, grabbing tightly on to Laurent's arm.  
The blond held him, and occasionally ran his hand down Damen's back but he kept his hands to himself, knowing the Akielon needed to cry. They spent hours like this until finally Damianos calmed down little by little. He was exhausted, having released everything that had been galloping inside his chest after an emotional day. When he stopped crying, Laurent realised he was asleep.  
The blond prince was very humbled by this fact. It implied Damen trusted him so completely that he had laid completely vulnerable in front of Laurent. The magnitude of that trust was not lost to the prince, and he was going to make sure Damen knew how much he values it, even if h had only one night to prove it.   
Laurent half carried the bigger man onto a laying position, and carefully unlaced his sandals. Damen wouldn't have woken up of the Veretian had completely stripped him. Laurent unlaced his own boots and outer shirt and laid beside Damen, laying enough space that if Damen rolled, he would not touch the other man.  
In a moment of boldness, Laurent caressed Damen's cheek softly and then pulled his hand back. Today he had behaved in a very uncharacteristic way, more like a naive young man than the snake Veretian prince he was, but there was a reason for that. Laurent knew that in order to win he needed to know just how much he needed to give up. This was the last time he would see Damianos, so at least he could enjoy the last hours before his life returned to what it had been before the Akielon had arrived soaking wet on his doorstep.  
He remembered how they had danced on the balcony, and how Damen had kissed him a few hours later. He remembered him reading to Nicaise while the blond listened and watching the soft camaraderie that had united the foreigner with Auguste. Over the months, everyone in the castle had sweetly fallen in love with Damen's joyful nature and caring mannerisms. Laurent realised he had also fallen in love with the Akielon's presence, with his smile, with his awful jokes. He had become a part of his life. And Laurent was going to let him go, and would try to make it as easy as possible, because he had always known Damen was not his to keep. Maybe that was why he had allowed himself to lower his guard so much, knowing the Akielon would never be his, thinking he was safe.   
The moonlight illuminated Damn's form over the bed and Laurent studied him, carving every aspect on his memory. He had never been very preoccupied by the aspect of the other man, thinking of it as irrelevant, only analysing his physique when assessing him on a fight, but now he was for the first time observing him as a man. And Damianos of Akielos was beautiful.  
Dark curls crowded his face, having grown pretty long in the months he had spent at Marlas. They framed a classical squared jaw, with very prominent and masculine features. Damn had relatively small eyes with short straight lashes. His nose was straight and big, making him look as if he had been carved in stone. His lips were thin and pale. But his skin was that of a maiden, not one single scar or imperfection over it. The dark skin contrasted against the white covers making it look even more exotic, more untouchable. Powerful arms and legs were relaxed against the bed. Damen was curled on his side, making him look strangely vulnerable. For all of his power, Damianos was a sensitive guy and had never trouble showing it. Laurent thought this trait made him very brave.  
"Tu me manqueras plus mon cher, mais j'attend que vous êtes jolie." Laurent spoke softly in Veretian to Damen. The brunette didn't woke up.  
Beast guarded over the sleeping man all the night, observing him and saving all the details that he could remember. When Damen started to wake up, Laurent fled the room. 

\-------------------------------------

Damen and Nikandros parted at dawn with Jokaste on tow. Damen had taken the horse he had been riding for the few months he had been inhabiting the castle. Laurent had seen him go from his place on the stairs, choosing not to reveal himself to his guests. Before closing the door, Damen had looked at him, and mouthed his goodbye.   
Laurent didn't move for hours from that position.  
"You made it" Auguste voice came from behind him "you loved him"  
There was no reprieve or hatred in his tone.  
"Nicaise will be trapped here forever." Laurent replied  
"It wasn't you who trapped us here." Auguste reminded him softly "My uncle betrayed us and took everything from us, but believing in you was what kept me alive and allowed me to come back to life. I have my wife, my son and my brother. We have friends here, and we are a family, that is enough. And I saw you, you tried with Damen. You made the only thing I asked from you: you tried. If I am to spend eternity in this place, then so be it. But don't blame it on yourself little brother."  
"I wish I could blame it on myself" Laurent replied.  
"I know"

\-------------------------------------

Laurent had taken upon himself to organise the library to his liking. It was his way of coping with the knowledge that he would spent all of his life captive in the castle. Nicaise helped, and also took some books in a special pile, his favourites.   
"I miss Damen" said the little cup  
Laurent wasn't sure how to answer to his nephew.  
"I miss him too" he answered carefully  
"Do you think he will come back sometime?"  
"Maybe, I don't know" Laurent answered truthfully.  
Nicaise shrugged and went back to organising his books. Laurent was pained each time he had to face his nephew. It was less than a month now before he was 21, and when the moment came, their destinies would seal. The beast prince was sorry to never know who his nephew looked like.

\-------------------------------------

Days passed as if time was hurrying itself. In the castle, a tense atmosphere had settled. As time went on, reaching the day of Laurent's birthday, the inhabitants of the castle looked more and more somber, as if a gray atmosphere had settled on their hearts.   
Laurent's scars were now constantly bleeding. His chest was specially bloody, his heart an open wound that seemed that would never close. On this days, Laurent finally stopped to remember, and it was brutal.  
He remembered growing in Arles, a beautiful boy. He remembered how his father doted on Auguste, while mostly commenting on his younger son's beauty. It was a good thing Laurent hadn't reached adulthood while his father was ruling, maybe he would have shipped him away to marry and seal a political alliance. Laurent was beautiful like that. He hated himself and to a degree was grateful to have been rendered hideous. Damen had kissed him like that.  
He remembered how close he had been to his uncle, believing they were very alike. He looked up to him, so smart, so powerful. At last his uncle was the proof that a powerful mind was useless without a heart to guide it. His uncle had lost his family and Laurent was not alone. He would never had been able to make it through all those years of exile without having Auguste and the rest of his people with him. He had to admit to himself that his self hatred was a coping mechanism, more than truth.  
Every time Laurent thought about Damianos, he hoped he had achieved his goal, that he will be downed King.   
Damen was the only thing who hadn't left a scar on his body.

\-------------------------------------

The day finally came. It was raining. Laurent was in the King's room, sitting on the edge of the balcony, not caring he was soaking wet. In his hands he had the white rose, with its only petal hanging.  
The floor was red, of the blood that the rain washed from the fragile scarred body.  
"You look like a ghost" Auguste commented. The elder prince was inside the bedroom, hiding from the rain but still accompanying his brother in his last hours before the curse was definite.  
Laurent was as thin as a skeleton. All of the blood loss taking its toll on his body. His skin was paler than ever, thick as parchment. To the beast prince it didn't mattered anymore, eventually he would heal, but right now he needed to bleed and to mourn, so he didn't answered his brother.

It was from this position that Laurent saw the troops approaching, columns of red surging in the horizon. For a moment, the blond's heart fluttered in hope, but the cloaks were too dark, for them to be Akielon. The Regent was inching towards the door with his full display of troops.   
"They are going to crush us" said Auguste  
"They don't know you are here, or anyone else for that matter" answered Laurent  
"You are not going to fight them alone"  
"Who said anything about fighting?"  
"You can't give up!"  
Laurent left his position in the balcony and entered the dorm, not caring he was leaving pools of bloodied water behind.  
"I am not giving up" and before Auguste could react, Laurent closed the doors and locked them from the outside "but you are not going to die for me, your family needs you"  
"You are my family you idiot!" Auguste was panicking  
"I love you too Gus"

Laurent had enough time to change his clothes for dry ones and tie his hair in a pony tail. He went to the training grounds and retrieved his sword from the wall.   
When the troops arrived, a single man was waiting in the entrance.  
The Regent was in the front of his army, dressed in King Aleron's armour, with a crown on his head. His grip on the reigns was tight, and his smile upon seeing his nephew was genuine. He knew he had won, and was enjoying the fact very much.  
"Laurent, the assassin prince" greeted the false King to his nephew  
"Uncle" Laurent greeted in return  
"Look with your own eyes how the former prince is standing alone, no allies to back him up." the Regent addressed his troops  
"I don't need them uncle. I am here to challenge you to a duel of honour. Me against your best warrior. If you win, then you can go back and tell my kingdom how you extended your hand in forgiveness and I was killed fairly. But if I win, then you will leave me alone and will never come back to Delpheur."  
"And why would I sacrifice such a prize if I don't need to agree with you, I can just crush you and be done with this in a couple of minutes."  
Laurent was saved from answering.  
At the distance, battle horns sounded, coming from the north. Horse hooves could be listened galloping towards the castle, battle cries raging behind the fort in Marlas. Laurent laughed a happy laugh. He had come to the stairs to play his only card, tempting his uncle into winning fair and square in front of his armies, but he had forgotten that politics in Vere were never that concerned on such matters as honour. But right now, by some miracle of fate, he was standing at the doorsteps of his prison, as an army surged behind his back.  
"Because I'm not alone uncle"

The Akielon army engaged against the Veretian troops as soon as they were within distance. Laurent had made sure the castle doors could not be open from the inside, keeping his people safe as the battle raged in the grounds.  
Laurent was ready to join the fight when a rider pulled by his side. Damianos was standing in a golden armour, with a red cape flaring behind him. His powerful legs straddled his horse. In one hand, he held his sword, but in the other he held the reins of a Laurent's horse.  
"You returned, why?" said Laurent not truly grasping the reason  
"I'll explain when everything is over" Damianos let go of the reins of the other horse and Laurent jumped on top of it. They charged together onto battle, keeping a close distance, making sure to guard each other's backs.  
Veretian and Akielon soldiers alike cowered upon the image of the beast prince. The Regent's troops were determined to kill him, but Damen had instructed his troops to guard him at every cost. Laurent didn't truly understood how everything had came together to this moment, but he was grateful to be spending his last couple of hours fighting. With every blow he delivered and with every man he killed, his heart healed more and more. Finally all of the years spent training and preparing were paying of in this battle where he knew he was fighting for his kingdom. After all this time, he was facing his uncle on equal grounds, not a frightened kid anymore, but a powerful warrior.  
Watching Damen and Laurent fight was like watching lighting and sunlight scorching the battlefield. They moved independently, each one concentrated in their own opponents, but they held a symmetry, circling each other, destroying anyone that entered their private dance. It was terrible and beautiful, as if a hurricane had met a tornado and they were combining to destroy the earth.   
Seas of red soldiers battled against each other. At last, there was victory for the Akielon army. The cries of joy started swimming through the survivors.  
"The Veretian King is dead!"  
Laurent heard it and all of the fight left his body. He was at peace now.  
He fell down of his horse and Damen immediately reacted, trying to catch him. They both scurried to the ground, not truly worrying about the world around them, knowing they were safe, the battle was over.  
It was only then that both princes realised the wound that Laurent had on his chest.  
"Is this one of your scars?" asked Damen hopeful   
"No, it was an arrow" answered Laurent  
"You will heal right? You said you cannot die."  
"I can now, I'm twenty one. The curse is complete, now I can die"  
Damen didn't understood well what the blond was saying. Laurent saw him cry and he smiled softly.  
"Hush, don't cry. You came. At last I can rest in peace." The beast prince was crying too, raw with emotion.   
"I cannot let you die" Damen pleaded  
"Kiss me..." Laurent felt his pulse weakening and his vision darkening, it was a selfish petition, but he wished above everything else to kiss Damianos one last time "Please..."  
Damen surged forward and kissed Laurent forcefully, pouring his soul into that kiss. Laurent answered with all of the strength he had left.  
"I love you..." Damen whispered into Laurent's mouth.  
It was the last thing Laurent heard before being pulled down by the darkness.


	8. Epilogue: The Ambassador

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end of the story.

When Laurent woke up, it was night outside. That was the first thing he realised. The second was that he was not alone. Beside him Damen was asleep on a chair. He looked quite comical, all of his massive bulk fitted in the tiny chair. It would have been perfectly reasonable for him to be on top of the bed as it was his...  
The last thing Laurent noticed was that he didn't knew where he was. But this was definitely not Marlas.  
Careful of not waking Damen up, Laurent tiptoed to the adjoining bathroom in the chamber and lighted the candles. What he saw in the mirror was unbelievable.  
His reflection was that of a beautiful young man with pale golden hair and striking blue eyes. He looked like he had filled in all the weight he had lost, his muscles slightly showing. He was wearing a chiton, leaving almost all of his skin in display. Laurent hadn't shown his skin ever this way, but right now he was thankful of having such an easy access to the view. His skin was perfectly unmarked, not one scar in his marble skin. The prince looked astounding, almost as if he was ethereal.  
"I am alive" Laurent whispered into the mirror, not quite believing the implication of this fact. The curse was broken, he was free.  
"Just barely" a groggy voice answered behind him.   
Damianos entered the bathroom and walked to meet Laurent a little bit awkwardly. He positioned himself behind the young man, careful of not touching him, and Laurent was grateful for that amount of restraint. He turned around and hugged Damen around the waist. The bigger man embraced him and placed a tentative kiss on the blond temple.  
"I thought I had died" Laurent whispered  
"So did I" Damen replied  
"What happened? How did you arrived there just in time?" Laurent memory was foggy of the attack and he was trying to make sense to the chaotic events that had occurred before he had lost consciousness.  
"Come to the bedroom and I'll explain"

Laurent followed Damen and sat on top of the bed. The Akielon sat on the other side and looked into Laurent's eyes. He looked very nervous.  
"After I left the castle at Marlas, I rode back here to Ios" Damen started "and when I arrived, I faced Kastor. It was strange. He was waiting for me, he demanded I gave back Jokaste. After I did he fled, not even bothering to explain it. He just took Jokate and they fled together."  
"Why the change of heart?" Laurent asked. It seemed stupid after all of the trouble the both of them had gone to in order to take the throne.  
"Queen Halvik" Laurent reacted to this words, suddenly alert. That witch was the reason he had been imprisoned almost eight years of his life.  
As if speaking to a spooked animal, Damen cautiously told the same story the witch queen had told him.   
Apparently, Halvik had been friends with King Aleron. When they had taken the responsibility of ruling their respective countries they had agreed upon extending that friendship into their kingdoms, reason why Vere and Vask were such close allies. But then the King had gotten sick, and despite what everyone thought, he saw the danger that his brother posed to the security of his sons, and that was why he had made Halvik promise him to save them. The queen was smart, and knew the only way to protect the princes was to make them disappear, but when Aleron had finally died, she still hadn't figured out how to protect them. She brokered a deal with the Regent and in exchange of a small army, she had sent her assassins to kill Auguste. But the Regent wanted Laurent dead too. In the few moments she had to think, she came up with the idea of the curse, wishing with all her heart that it was enough time to figure out something else. But at last it seems that Damen had arrived to Marlas on his own, and Halvik had been sure that he was the one. When her spies informed the queen that Damianos was riding back to Akielos without the cursed prince, she acted in his favour and threatened his brother with something she was still unwilling to disclose. Damen had been received into his kingdom and crowned King immediately.  
Then Halvik had urged the new King to ride back to Marlas and that was how in the three weeks that passed between their last meeting, Damen had formed his army and had ridden to counter the usurper King's troops.  
"I don't believe her" Laurent commented after listening to the crazy story.  
"Neither do I, that woman spooks me to death" Damen shrugged, not actually concerned with the witch.  
"What happened to my people?" suddenly Laurent remembered, and kicked himself mentally for forgetting the most important issue at hand.  
"They are fine, and human again. I still don't know how the curse was broken, would you tell me now?" Damen seemed curious, but also happy.  
"You did" Laurent gave no further explanations and exited the room, decided to look for his brother and the rest of his people.  
"This way" Damen said, resigning himself to the fact that Laurent wasn't going to go back to sleep.

\-------------------------------------

Laurent was escorted to a door and then Damen had left him alone, giving him space and going back to sleep. The Veretian prince was suddenly nervous, not knowing what was waiting for him on the other side of that door. The last time he had seen Auguste, he had been the same age that Laurent was at the moment.   
Light was escaping behind the door and he decided to come in finally, taking a deep breath before opening the door.  
The first thing he saw was Nicaise. At last he had answered his question, his nephew looked like him. The boy was painfully gorgeous, as if he was a faerie creature dragged from the woods. His features were armonic and balanced, almost androgynous, as Laurent himself had been as a boy.   
"Nicaise..." Laurent exclaimed and his nephew surged towards his arms, hugging his uncle for the first time.  
"My beautiful boy..." the blond prince murmured to the ten year old, holding him close.  
"You are awake" a deep rich voice sounded to his left. The first thing that came to Laurent's mind was how much Auguste voice resembled his father's.  
His brother was no longer the barely adult prince he had been all those years ago, but instead, a man almost as tall as Damianos walked towards his little brother. Auguste had golden hair, bright as the sun, his dark blue eyes were filled with joy.  
The brothers embraced, Laurent still not letting go of his nephew, who seemed annoyed at being held for so long, but still was accepting the hug, joining in the happiness.  
"Your scars are gone little brother" commented Auguste to his little brother, noticing how different he looked without them.   
"You are no longer a candle"  
They were meeting as if for the very first time in years.  
"Maybe I will join the admiring session" Vannes voice sounded amused. Laurent saw his sister in law and was struck in awe. The last time he had seen her, she had been nineteen years old, barely an adult. Now she had flowered into a majestic woman, looking every ounce of the queen she would soon become. Laurent had never been too interested in women, but that didn't stopped him from registering that Vannes was beautiful. So, so painfully beautiful.  
"You are such a lucky man Gus" Laurent commented. Vannes laughed and joined the hug, embracing his husband and brother in law, trapping a protesting Nicaise inside the circle.  
They talked a couple of hours, letting the conversation flow upon seeing the dawn. It was not only the dawn of a new day, but also the dawn of a new era. Despite all circumstances, now they were free and alive, and together. Laurent maybe wasn't too good at showing how much he was grateful for this fact, but he knew that the few people that mattered would know. After all, he was not a beast.

\-------------------------------------

Laurent was standing in the throne room in Arles, wearing a very formal suit. In front of him, all of the Veretain court was sitting, but Laurent's eyes were only in his brother, who was walking towards him, holding Vannes' hand. Behind him, Nicaise was walking too, with such grace that he looked as if he wasn't even touching the floor.  
Laurent took his eyes briefly from Auguste to look at Damen, who was sitting in the front row and was grinning in complete happiness. King Damianos had been invited to Arles to be present in the coronation of the King of Vere.   
Auguste stopped before his brother and smiled. All of the room stood up in respect, and quieted every murmur. This moment was the consummation of a dark era, where the throne had been robbed by an evil man. Now the people had their rightful king.  
"Kneel" Laurent pronounced without emotion. He had been chosen to carry out the ceremony as he was the only survivor of the Royal family.  
In his hands he carried a sword. It was long and elegant. It's handle had filigrees of gold and on the top of the embroidery it had encrusted a lapis lazuli stone. This sword matched the design of Laurent's dagger as they had been made in pair.   
"A King is the sword that rules and protects a kingdom" Laurent proclaimed loud enough for the whole room to listen. He was aware that this was not the traditional way of crowning a King, but somehow he knew that this was what his father would have wanted.  
"A King is the father of a nation, its guardian and most faithful servant. His power lays upon a delicate balance between his service to his country and his royal blood. Do you swear upon your life to protect and serve your kingdom above your personal interests until death itself reclaims your soul?"  
"I swear upon my life to serve Vere with every breath that I have, and protect it with every drop of blood in my veins"  
Laurent then took the golden crown that was laid on a cushion to his left and rested it on top of his brother's head.  
"Then rise King of Vere, and may the angels bless your reign" Laurent declared. Auguste sat upon his throne, taking the place that had always been his at last. But Laurent surprised everyone by taking position in front of Vannes.  
"Kneel" he ordered, and the lady hesitantly obliged. The room was quiet.  
"A queen" he said "is like the sheath on which a sword rests. It protects it from being too sharp, and guards it in times of peace. A Queen is the mother of a nation, its leader and example. She makes sure the power of the King remains balanced, is the first advisor and has the most important opinion on every decision. Do you swear upon your life to protect and serve your kingdom above your personal interests until death itself reclaims your soul?"  
"I swear upon my life to serve Vere with every breath that I take, and protect its people with every drop of blood in my veins." Laurent nodded to her, knowing he had made a good decision by making the queen take the same oath as the King. This way he was reivindicating her power and making her an equal to the King. Auguste looked so happy that Laurent was concerned he would burst. Laurent took the queen's crown from the cushion and placed it on his sister's head.  
"Then rise Queen of Vere and may the angels bless your reign"   
When they were both sat upon their thrones, they held hands and smiled at each other.  
"Long live the Queen" shouted half of the room.  
"Long live the King" shouted the other  
Laurent had a serene expression, looking as any proud brother would, but not letting any tear or intense emotion to show in his face. It was the beginning of a new era. Everything was alright at last.

\-------------------------------------

Damen catched up to him after the coronation was over. They hadn't truly seen one another in the few days that had passed since Laurent had woken in Ios. In a way, he missed the silence of Marlas, feeling out of his depth by so many strange people. After all he had spent almost half of his life isolated on a castle with only his close family and allies. It was going to take him some time to get used to living in the world again.  
"There you are" Damen said and grinned. Laurent smiled slightly, not feeling comfortable showing more signs of happiness being sorrounded with too many strangers. At that moment Auguste was passing beside them and the two kings embraced tightly.  
"My brother of Akielos" Auguste saluted in the formal way.  
"Our brother of Vere" Damen answered with a grin. They embraced again, dark skin contrasting against golden skin. They looked good together, Laurent thought. He was also very glad he was not a King, knowing it would be weird beyond measure to address Damen as "brother". He shrugged those thoughts, not bothering himself with his strange thought, happy of seeing this epical bromance between kings had survived.  
They talked a bit, and Damen congratulated Auguste on his coronation.  
"I owe it to you Damianos" Auguste replied seriously   
"You owe me nothing, you took me in when I needed it the most. This was nothing in comparison" Damen replied easily.  
Auguste grinned and patted Damen on the shoulder and with a wink meant for his brother he left. Nicaise was walking behind his father, seeming like he wanted to get out as soon as possible. He would need to get used to crowds Laurent thought, after all, now he was Prince Nicaise.  
"Can we talk?" Damen's voice brought Laurent to the present and he nodded. Both men walked through the corridors and found themselves in the gardens, enjoying the chilly Veretian afternoon. They sat upon a fountain and Damen took Laurent's hand in his.   
"What are you going to do now that you are not longer a prince?" The brunette asked nervously  
"Why do you ask?" Laurent countered, wary of Damen's impulsive nature.  
"I was hoping that you would consider spending a time at Ios with me" the Akielon king's voice sounded very vulnerable.  
"With what purpose?"   
"To let me court you properly."  
"And to what purpose?"  
"I wish to make you my king" Damianos said so softly that the blonde nearly didn't grasp it.   
Laurent's head started spinning and his gut felt as if he had been dropped from a cliff. What was between them was still fragile, but Laurent knew he loved the man. Still, he needed to be honest with Damen. He took his free hand and pulled the chain that was hidden inside his shirt. Damianos looked at the medallion and his heart sank. Laurent saw the pain in his heart, and rushed to explain.  
"I had spent almost all of my life prisoner in a castle, slave of my rage, wanting nothing more than to avenge all that I had lost." Laurent softly spoke "Auguste wanted to name me his first Council member but instead I asked him for this"  
"You are an ambassador" Damen spoke as if that fact was a dooming perspective.  
"No, I am the Ambassador between Vere and Akielos" corrected Laurent. Damen lighted up in a second, but still the blond man kept his distance, his explanation not finished yet.  
"I love you Damianos" this was said looking to the floor, aware that it was the first time he had uttered this words to anyone other than his brother and nephew "but I need to find myself before I can share me with someone else."  
"I understand" Damen had so much mixed emotions on his face that Laurent couldn't read him properly.  
"Don't be sad, I will be coming with you to Ios as soon as you return" Laurent explained with a soft voice "and maybe I'll spend some months there"  
"But you will eventually return here"   
"Yes. I cannot promise you that I will stay there forever, I cannot imagine myself trapped inside a castle my whole life."  
"I understand why not" Damen's eyes were sad but his smile was genuine  
"I cannost make promises to you about the future, but if time and space allows it, then maybe one day I'll accept your offer and come to live permanently with you"  
Laurent rested both of his arms on Damen's shoulders, feeling small and vulnerable after the confession he had just made. Softly he closed the distance between them and looked into dark eyes, asking for permission. Damen kissed him and the blond dissolved into the kiss. Powerful arms sorrounded his waist and Laurent relaxed. In those arms he was safe.  
In Damen's arms he was finally home.

\-------------------------------------

Five years later...  
Damen and Laurent were riding, competing against each other. The Akielon King mounting a white battle horse while Laurent was mounting a brown mare. They were happy, unaware of the world around them as they rode across miles of green grasses.  
When they stopped to rest, they laid on top of the grass. Damen was laying on his back and Laurent was resting on top of him. Their hands were intertwined on top of Damen's chest. Their wedding rings meeting each other in a familiar fashion.  
"Do you think we will catch them here?" Laurent playfully asked.   
"They won't know what hit them" Damen answered in kind. If someone saw them, maybe they would mistake the two men laying for an ordinary couple. No one would believe that they were the powerful kings of Akielos that were giggling in the grass as if they were teenagers in love.  
When they heard the horses at the distance, both men sprung to action and retrieved their horses. They rode towards the column of blue banners that announced the visit of the Veretian King.   
Laurent and Damianos stopped just in front of the King and Queen, who were shocked to see the men so far from the castle.  
"Brother!" Auguste boomed, and Laurent happily thought if he meant Damen or himself.  
Damen beat him to embrace Auguste, as he had dismounted first. Laurent dismounted with all of the grace he possessed and walked to meet his brother who pulled him into a warm embrace.  
"Married life looks good on the both of you" Auguste commented and the other men beamed.  
"You are getting fat uncle Damen" a teenage voice addressed the King.  
Nicaise dismounted in swift motion and walked in the same fashion as Laurent had, looking every ounce the prince he was. Laurent embraced him, noticing how his fifteen year old nephew was starting to look more like a young man each day.  
As Nicaise was swung into Damen's arms, who ruffled his hair in reprieve for his comment, Laurent advanced towards Vannes. The young queen had not dismounted as she was holding a precious cargo on her arms. That little bundle was the reason Laurent had convinced his husband to break all of the etiquette rules to meet his family on the road.  
"Let me see him" Laurent pleaded to his sister in law  
"It's not a he" Vannes laughed as she passed the baby princess to Laurent's arms. Laurent held her as he had once held Nicaise. The baby had striking dark blue eyes, just as Auguste's and dark hair as her mother. Laurent was struck by the beauty of his niece, thanking silently that he had the opportunity to meet her.  
"What is her name?" Damen asked, embracing his husband and looking over his shoulder at his new niece.  
"Héléne" Vannes answered, and Laurent tattooed her name in his heart, overwhelmed by the happiness he felt.  
They rode back to Ios, Laurent carrying Héléne and letting his horse be guided by Damen, who was conversing happily with Auguste.  
"Once upon a time," Laurent spoke to his niece, careful of not letting anyone else hear him "the world was dark and filled with trickery and treason. But now, the darkness is gone and you will never know how it was the times that your family spent hidden in the darkness. But is all right now, my little princess. You are safe now."  
Damen let himself disengage from conversation and he positioned himself beside his husband, risking to steal a kiss from the blond, who obliged being so overwhelmed by happiness.  
They continued this way and Laurent looked around him and saw himself sorrounded by his family. No curse could touch him now, being sorrounded by so much love. The once beast prince left a breath of relief.   
The dark times were truly gone.


End file.
